Be Prepared!
Sermon
Don't Forget The Child
Sermons For Advent And Christmas
Have you noticed that, over the last decade or so, there have been lots of predictions about the end of life on this planet -- at least the end of life as we know it? We were warned a few years back that using spray deodorants could destroy the ozone layer. We have been threatened with global warming and a melting of the polar ice cap that could change the world's climate -- with disastrous results. We have been warned about the dangers of overpopulation, with its resulting competition, famine, social disintegration, and disease. Back in May of 1994, when a giant comet struck Jupiter, astrophysicists reminded us that the same could happen to our planet; or that Earth could be destroyed by a meteor shower, exploded by contact with a pocket of anti-matter or swallowed up into a Black Hole. And of course, in spite of recent progress in arms control, there is still the threat of nuclear war. The United States and Russia still retain between them thousands of large, strategic weapons: plenty of firepower to blow the world up. Environmental disaster, nuclear war, collision with a giant comet -- there have been many predictions about how the world might end.
And, as we're all aware, not only scientists make these predictions. Some religious leaders also make them. Hal Lindsay has sold over thirty million copies of his book, The Late Great Planet Earth, which details how Lindsay thinks the world will end. Billy Graham also has written on this subject, in his bestseller, Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Apocalypticism generally has not occupied a big place in many church traditions. We may not know quite what to make of these discussions. Terms some religious leaders use in discussing the End Times -- Premillennialism, Millennialism, Amillennialism, Dispensationalism -- may seem strange to us.
Still, the End Times are alluded to in the scriptures a lot! Perhaps as many as 400 times! And it's a theme that comes up especially during Advent every year. So, let's think again about what the Bible says about eschatology, which is the Greek word for the end of time.
The Gospel lesson for this morning, Matthew 25:1-13, that amazing little parable about the wise and foolish maidens, is one of the many places in the New Testament where there is a reference to the imminent return of Jesus. In this parable, the bridegroom represents Jesus. The maidens, both wise and foolish, represent believers, the members and friends of Christ's church. One of the points of the parable is that when Christ comes again, he will arrive unexpectedly. No one can "pin down" the day or hour of his return.
Yet, since the very beginning of the Christian church, some have tried to predict the exact date of the Apocalypse. The end was solemnly predicted, on the basis of Bible study, for the year 1000. And again for 1524 A.D., when a German astronomer and preacher named Stoeffler predicted that a flood was coming that would wipe out everything. Stoeffler convinced his parishioners to build arks and rafts. When the water didn't rise as predicted, they threw Stoeffler into a pond. The End was predicted again in 1843, when a New York farmer named William Miller convinced his followers to sell everything they owned and to don white robes and wait for Christ on hilltops. It was predicted again in 1900 and again in 1910, when Haley's Comet came near. In 1977 a group of 24 believers in Arkansas held a ten-month vigil in a small house, waiting for the Apocalypse. They finally were evicted when the mortgage wasn't paid.
There were many specific predictions as we approached the year 2000, particularly around the potential for a Y2K crisis. But so far every specific prediction has proven wrong. It's enough to believe that Christ will return. But of the specifics of God's calendar, Jesus says, "You know neither the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13 NRSV).
In the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, Matthew compares the Day of Christ's return to the joy, excitement, and celebration of a wedding feast. The Rule of Christ will be preferable to the things we know, just as day is preferred to night or the warmth of springtime is preferred to the cold of winter. It's good to know that humankind's long, twisted, and often bloody history will eventually come to a positive end. Wouldn't it be much worse to believe that this world's suffering and evil will continue forever, without relief?
Hinduism believes something like that. One Hindu myth holds that every thousand years, a bird flies over the Himalayas with a silk scarf in its beak. As it passes over the highest mountain in the Himalayas, every thousand years, the scarf brushes the rocks below. When that mountain is worn to the ground by the scarf, one day of Brahma (god) is completed. And these days of god make up a cycle. And the cycle never ends.
The Christian understanding of time is quite different. We (and also the Jews and the Moslems) believe that history is not aimless or unguided. History belongs to God. History is His Story: it's going somewhere. Believing that there is a meaning and purpose and direction to history gives human life hope.
Back in 1985, a 34-year-old long-distance swimmer named Florence Chadwick waded into the icy waters off Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. She was determined to swim from the island to the coast, a distance of over twenty miles. Florence Chadwick was no novice. She had already swum the English Channel, both ways. She was prepared for the freezing water, the long distance, and the sharks, which had to be driven off with gunfire.
What she wasn't prepared for was the fog -- fog so thick she couldn't see an arm's length ahead. Florence Chadwick swam for almost sixteen hours, but then asked to be taken out of the water. Ironically, though she didn't know it, she was almost there, just a half mile from shore. The fog had blinded her eyes and stolen her courage. Seeing no end in sight, she gave up. Just two months later, on a clear day, Florence Chadwick not only completed the swim, but shattered the men's world record by two hours.
Having a vision of the future keeps us going. Sure, the future of this planet, and our individual futures, may sometimes seem cloudy, maybe even dark and forboding. But the Return of Christ is our hope. Scripture says there is a Day ahead, a Day of Rejoicing, a Day of Celebration, like a great wedding, when the Bridegroom will return. As Christians, we look forward, not to the worst, but to the best.
A final point is made by our Gospel lesson: if Christ is returning unexpectedly, we must be ready, like five of the ten young women were ready. That point was brought home to me once while standing in the pulpit of a previous church. It had been my custom to go into the sanctuary every Saturday night to run through my sermon. It was a huge ark of a sanctuary, with lots of dark wood and stained glass windows, and seventy-foot ceilings in a large complex of buildings. Kind of an imposing place to be all alone in on a Saturday night. One Saturday night, I went into that sanctuary, into the pulpit, to practice preaching. Not too long before, the Trustees had had electricians come in and install some huge arc lights near the sanctuary ceiling to light up the rose window from the inside so that passersby could enjoy it at night from the outside.
I didn't know that before those huge lights come on, they are preceded by about five seconds of an electric hum that courses through the sanctuary. Then when they come on, they explode with a flash. Well, there I was, all alone, in that dimly lit sanctuary, and the electric hum started. And my skin began to crawl, and the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I looked around, wondering what was happening. Then suddenly there was this big explosion of light, illuminating the beautiful, multi-colored rose window.
For an instant I thought Christ was coming again! And I felt like one of the five "foolish" maidens because I realized I wasn't ready! Part of the message of Advent is that old Scout motto: "Be prepared!"
What does the Bridegroom want by way of our preparation? The parable tells us. Christ, the Bridegroom, wants our light to shine! The light of our faith, prepared in worship and prayer and Bible study. The light of our good deeds, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, which comes out of our faith.
If the Bridegroom were to come right now, would you be ready? Would your light be shining? Would he know you enough to admit you at the door?
What we're looking forward to is something good: the joy of Christ's return, the celebration of a wedding party. No one knows when it might happen. Are you ready? Is your light shining?
Be prepared!
And, as we're all aware, not only scientists make these predictions. Some religious leaders also make them. Hal Lindsay has sold over thirty million copies of his book, The Late Great Planet Earth, which details how Lindsay thinks the world will end. Billy Graham also has written on this subject, in his bestseller, Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Apocalypticism generally has not occupied a big place in many church traditions. We may not know quite what to make of these discussions. Terms some religious leaders use in discussing the End Times -- Premillennialism, Millennialism, Amillennialism, Dispensationalism -- may seem strange to us.
Still, the End Times are alluded to in the scriptures a lot! Perhaps as many as 400 times! And it's a theme that comes up especially during Advent every year. So, let's think again about what the Bible says about eschatology, which is the Greek word for the end of time.
The Gospel lesson for this morning, Matthew 25:1-13, that amazing little parable about the wise and foolish maidens, is one of the many places in the New Testament where there is a reference to the imminent return of Jesus. In this parable, the bridegroom represents Jesus. The maidens, both wise and foolish, represent believers, the members and friends of Christ's church. One of the points of the parable is that when Christ comes again, he will arrive unexpectedly. No one can "pin down" the day or hour of his return.
Yet, since the very beginning of the Christian church, some have tried to predict the exact date of the Apocalypse. The end was solemnly predicted, on the basis of Bible study, for the year 1000. And again for 1524 A.D., when a German astronomer and preacher named Stoeffler predicted that a flood was coming that would wipe out everything. Stoeffler convinced his parishioners to build arks and rafts. When the water didn't rise as predicted, they threw Stoeffler into a pond. The End was predicted again in 1843, when a New York farmer named William Miller convinced his followers to sell everything they owned and to don white robes and wait for Christ on hilltops. It was predicted again in 1900 and again in 1910, when Haley's Comet came near. In 1977 a group of 24 believers in Arkansas held a ten-month vigil in a small house, waiting for the Apocalypse. They finally were evicted when the mortgage wasn't paid.
There were many specific predictions as we approached the year 2000, particularly around the potential for a Y2K crisis. But so far every specific prediction has proven wrong. It's enough to believe that Christ will return. But of the specifics of God's calendar, Jesus says, "You know neither the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13 NRSV).
In the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, Matthew compares the Day of Christ's return to the joy, excitement, and celebration of a wedding feast. The Rule of Christ will be preferable to the things we know, just as day is preferred to night or the warmth of springtime is preferred to the cold of winter. It's good to know that humankind's long, twisted, and often bloody history will eventually come to a positive end. Wouldn't it be much worse to believe that this world's suffering and evil will continue forever, without relief?
Hinduism believes something like that. One Hindu myth holds that every thousand years, a bird flies over the Himalayas with a silk scarf in its beak. As it passes over the highest mountain in the Himalayas, every thousand years, the scarf brushes the rocks below. When that mountain is worn to the ground by the scarf, one day of Brahma (god) is completed. And these days of god make up a cycle. And the cycle never ends.
The Christian understanding of time is quite different. We (and also the Jews and the Moslems) believe that history is not aimless or unguided. History belongs to God. History is His Story: it's going somewhere. Believing that there is a meaning and purpose and direction to history gives human life hope.
Back in 1985, a 34-year-old long-distance swimmer named Florence Chadwick waded into the icy waters off Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. She was determined to swim from the island to the coast, a distance of over twenty miles. Florence Chadwick was no novice. She had already swum the English Channel, both ways. She was prepared for the freezing water, the long distance, and the sharks, which had to be driven off with gunfire.
What she wasn't prepared for was the fog -- fog so thick she couldn't see an arm's length ahead. Florence Chadwick swam for almost sixteen hours, but then asked to be taken out of the water. Ironically, though she didn't know it, she was almost there, just a half mile from shore. The fog had blinded her eyes and stolen her courage. Seeing no end in sight, she gave up. Just two months later, on a clear day, Florence Chadwick not only completed the swim, but shattered the men's world record by two hours.
Having a vision of the future keeps us going. Sure, the future of this planet, and our individual futures, may sometimes seem cloudy, maybe even dark and forboding. But the Return of Christ is our hope. Scripture says there is a Day ahead, a Day of Rejoicing, a Day of Celebration, like a great wedding, when the Bridegroom will return. As Christians, we look forward, not to the worst, but to the best.
A final point is made by our Gospel lesson: if Christ is returning unexpectedly, we must be ready, like five of the ten young women were ready. That point was brought home to me once while standing in the pulpit of a previous church. It had been my custom to go into the sanctuary every Saturday night to run through my sermon. It was a huge ark of a sanctuary, with lots of dark wood and stained glass windows, and seventy-foot ceilings in a large complex of buildings. Kind of an imposing place to be all alone in on a Saturday night. One Saturday night, I went into that sanctuary, into the pulpit, to practice preaching. Not too long before, the Trustees had had electricians come in and install some huge arc lights near the sanctuary ceiling to light up the rose window from the inside so that passersby could enjoy it at night from the outside.
I didn't know that before those huge lights come on, they are preceded by about five seconds of an electric hum that courses through the sanctuary. Then when they come on, they explode with a flash. Well, there I was, all alone, in that dimly lit sanctuary, and the electric hum started. And my skin began to crawl, and the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I looked around, wondering what was happening. Then suddenly there was this big explosion of light, illuminating the beautiful, multi-colored rose window.
For an instant I thought Christ was coming again! And I felt like one of the five "foolish" maidens because I realized I wasn't ready! Part of the message of Advent is that old Scout motto: "Be prepared!"
What does the Bridegroom want by way of our preparation? The parable tells us. Christ, the Bridegroom, wants our light to shine! The light of our faith, prepared in worship and prayer and Bible study. The light of our good deeds, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, which comes out of our faith.
If the Bridegroom were to come right now, would you be ready? Would your light be shining? Would he know you enough to admit you at the door?
What we're looking forward to is something good: the joy of Christ's return, the celebration of a wedding party. No one knows when it might happen. Are you ready? Is your light shining?
Be prepared!
